Pinterest Find: Hot Cocoa Snowman Teacher Gifts

As of two days ago, I had no idea what to do for Cam’s five school teachers (yes, 5!!). Upon checking my Pinterest holiday folder, I rediscovered this cute snowman made of jars and containing marshmallows and hot cocoa mix. Fun! I think I pinned it in the summer, so I’m glad some rare forethought paid off. And since I have about a million baby food jars, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to use up something on hand.

Side note: my good camera is in the shop so I borrowed a friend’s Nikon…man, it’s a nice camera, but my off-camera flash doesn’t fit (obviously, since my camera is a Pentax) so my pictures are less than amazing. :P

 

I followed the tutorial almost exactly. I hotglued the jars together, cut out little strips of Christmasy fabric for the scarves and glued on the buttons. I used Sharpie paint pens for the eyes, nose and mouth. For the hat, I changed it up a bit…the tutorial calls for paper but I had some black sparkle felt on hand so I cut the brim and the crown, fit them on the lid and hot glued them together so they can be removed as one piece. I cut out and glued a small circle to cover the lid and complete the hat. Done!

Hot cocoa mix is not rocket science, but I’m partial to my mom’s recipe which is a mixture of instant chocolate drink mix (we use Nesquik), dry milk, coffee creamer, powdered sugar and malt powder (if you like a malt flavor). As my mom says, “mix to taste”. This recipe is totally made up and can be altered however you like, I even added some cocoa powder cause I like a really rich chocolate flavor.

Mom’s Awesome Hot Cocoa Mix

In a gallon size baggie, toss in:

2 cups Nesquik

2 cups nonfat dry milk

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup creamer

1/2 cup malt powder (optional)

Shake bag until mixed. Dip a wet finger into the powder and taste it. Alter taste by adding more milk (for less chocolate flavor) or adding more Nesquik or plain cocoa powder (for more chocolate flavor).

Enjoy!